Apple’s Releases Mysterious Apple Watch Update, watchOS 8.4.1: Its Secrets Revealed

The latest Apple Watch update is out. Well, nobody saw that coming. After all, watchOS 8.4 was only released last week and seems to be working just fine.

Adding intrigue to surprise, this quick update, watchOS 8.4.1, is only designed for certain Watch models. Apple is specific in its notes, saying “watchOS 8.4.1 includes bug fixes for Apple Watch Series 4 and later.”

This is a smaller update than many (in various sizes from around 70MB and up), so that would fit with Apple’s description, but it’s curious that the other Watch capable of running watchOS 8, Apple Watch Series 3, is not troubled by this update.

Similarly, since the beta testing has already begun on watchOS 8.5, alongside iOS 15.4, it feels like there was something in the last release that didn’t quite work or was overlooked.

So, what’s this update about?

Security and bug fixes

Apple isn’t specific about what is new in terms of security updates here, saying there are “no published CVE entries”. Note the use of the word published. There could be security fixes Apple simply isn’t talking about, for now, at least.

ECG

Apparently some regions, specifically Malaysia, are anecdotally reportingissues with ECG readings, so this may be addressing that. Note that this is not something Apple has acknowledged. This would fit with the Series 4 compatibility, of course, as that was the first Watch capable of these measurements. 

Chargers

One of the big elements in watchOS 8.4 was fixing an issue where some third-party chargers would fail to charge the Watch. It wasn’t every brand, and the chargers I tested all worked perfectly, but oh boy, this was an irritating wrinkle if your charger suddenly refused to play ball.

Apparently, this issue wasn’t fixed for everyone in watchOS 8.4, however, though it seems it may have affected an even smaller number of chargers than before.

Unity Lights

Finally, a mention for Apple’s latest Watch face. This isn’t specified in Apple’s notes and Watch faces are over-the-air additions rather than requiring a new software update, so it is available to other Watch users—you just need to have a Watch Series 4 or more recent and be running watchOS 8.3 or later.

To coincide with the release of the spiffy new Black Unity Braided Solo Loop, a special Watch face was also launched, that looks glorious. The Solo Loop and Braided Solo Loop are only available for Apple Watch Series 4 and later.

If you have such a timepiece, definitely check this Watch face out. It comes in full-screen and circular versions, the latter offering complications. The face includes the option of hour markers which are only visible when the light from the hour and minute markers fall on them. It’s very cool.